Lion Numbers Plunge as African Wilderness Succumbs to Human Pressure

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Lion Numbers Plunge as African Wilderness Succumbs to Human Pressure

Posted by David Braun of National Geographic
December 6, 2012

Only 32,000 Lions Remain out of 100,000 Roaming Africa in
the 1960s

The king of the African savannah is in serious trouble
because people are taking over the continent�s last
patches of wilderness on unprecedented scale, according
to a detailed study released this week.

A male lion feeds in South Africa's Kruger National Park.
The Kruger Park area is one of only ten strongholds left
for lions in Africa. National Geographic photo by James
P. Blair.

The most comprehensive assessment of lion (Panthera leo)
numbers to date�determined that Africa�s once-thriving
savannahs are undergoing massive land-use conversion and
burgeoning human population growth. The decline has had a
significant impact on the lions that make their home in
these savannahs; their numbers have dropped to as low as
32,000, down from hundreds of thousands estimated just 50
years ago.

Continues at:

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/12/06/lion-numbers-plunge-as-african-wilderness-succumbs-to-human-pressure/

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